Hemp Foods Won’t Get You High, but They Will Make You Healthy

Don’t worry about failing that drug test. While hemp is derived from ganja, it is a different variety of cannabis, and does not have the same properties as the smoking version. Hemp is now being used as a nutritional supplement in an assortment of different healthful food products.

Hemp Rasta Pasta pays homage to its roots, with pieces cut in the shape of marijuana leaves. Similar in the amount of fat and calories to other leading pastas, hemp pasta contains considerably more protein.

AlpSnack energy bars combine hemp nuts and dried fruit to give you a quick and healthy snack. These yummy treats can be found at stores like Whole Foods or in the organic aisle of your local grocery store.

Soy milk has been a leading substitute with healthy eating enthusiasts for several years, but if you are allergic, or otherwise opposed to soy, there is a hemp-based solution. Living Harvest Vanilla Hemp milk captures the same taste and texture of soy milk, plus it has additional calcium, making it a better choice for non-dairy consuming kids or pregnant women.

Very few people are strangers to the notion of weed laced brownies, but Nature’s Path Organic Hemp Plus Brownie Mix is a relatively new product that does the hemp without the buzz. This rich brownie mix, made even healthier by its use of dark instead of milk chocolate comes with the hemp already in the mix.

Clearly there is an amusing factor to cannabis food products, but is there any real reason to put hemp in these foods? Yes, actually. Hemp has some surprising nutritional components that make it a functional supplement. The first, and most profound, element of hemp is that it is a complex protein. Complex proteins are an essential part of the human diet, helping maintain muscle mass and blood health. Hemp offers as much substance as red meat in this regard, so for dieters who try to avoid red meat, hemp is an excellent replacement.

Omega-3 fatty acids, an indispensable ingredient to the human diet that most people are lacking on a daily basis is also abundant in hemp products. Hemp is a natural source of Omega-3s, which is essential for the growth and maintenance of brain cells.

While hemp foods are not entirely new to the food market, they have become more popular with the trend toward healthy eating. Many of the minerals found in hemp are missing from American diets, especially those of dieters. To fix this deficit, one could fill up on supplements that fill in all of the gaps, or one could make up a pan of hemp brownies instead. Either will work, but one is definitely the tastier choice.